Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius / Sea Pictures Op.37, Audio-CD

Marke: Sarah Connolly

Variante: Audio-CD

Eigenschaften:

PRODUKTBESCHREIBUNGEN KURZBESCHREIBUNG Meisterwerk Edward Elgar s The Dream of Gerontius (1900) ist sicherlich das bedeutendste englische Oratorium der Spätromantik. CHANDOS präsentiert hier eine neue Einspielung des Meisterwerks mit Sir Andrew Davis, die nicht nur durch die exzellente SACD-Aufnahmetechnik, sondern auch durch ihre herausragenden Interpreten überzeugt. Als Dreingabe gibt es Elgars gleichermassen populären Liedzyklus Sea Pictures. Chandos Records is delighted to present this new recording of Elgars choral masterpiece The Dream of Gerontius and the enduringly popular song cycle Sea Pictures. The BBC Symphony Orchestraand Chorus are conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, a peerless Elgarian who this year was awarded the prestigious Elgar Society Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the composers music. In Gerontius the soloists are Stuart Skelton, David Soar and Sarah Connolly, who also sings in Sea Pictures. This recording was made in the days leading up to their triumphant live performance of Gerontius in April of this year in which Skelton was praised as the ideal tenor for the role of Gerontius, Soar described as an implacable, dark sounding Priest and Connolly, a consummately polished Angel (The Guardian). Elgars Dream of Gerontius was commissioned in 1900 for that years Birmingham Festival. The score was produced in a hurry but Elgar had long before known the text which the work sets, Cardinal Newmans religious poem that powerfully recounts the final dream of a dying believer and the journey of his soul through death. The performers struggled with Elgars score at the disastrous premier but this did nothing to stop the immediate popularity of The Dream of Gerontius. It is recognised today by many as the greatest choral work by any English composer. Written not long before Gerontius, Sea Pictures sets a collection of poetry by different authors all on a single theme. Inspired by his love of nature, Elgars songs explore the emotional resonances of the sea, from serene still waters to a mighty ocean storm. REZENSION Perfect Gerontius tenors are rare. Philip Langridge, who recorded it with Andrew Davis in 1997, was the last. Stuart Skelton, so different in voice colour, fuller and more heroic but similarly human, modest and touching, is every bit as brilliant. David Soar (bass) urges him onward on his journey at the end of Part 1 with urgency and sternness. Part 2 , always more difficult to bring off, theologically if not musically, gives chorus and orchestra a chance to show their strengths which they do, generously. Sarah Connolly shines as the Angel and gives a warm, vivid performance of Sea Pictures. Davis, recently awarded the Elgar Society Medal, conducts this music from the heart. A disc of the year. ****** --Observer,26/1014 Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are on top form, suggesting sea sounds without the slightest need to underline points. --IRR, November '14 Andrew Davis has made excellent Elgar recordings in the past, but this is surely the finest. It's also among the best Gerontius performances on record. This Gerontius is a wonderful achievement, a deeply considered interpretation whose convincing spirituality never seems stuffy or over-reverential. It takes an honoured place among the finest-ever versions of this much-recorded masterpiece, and would unquestionably be my preferred digital version. Performance ***** Recording ***** RECORDING OF THE MONTH --BBC Music Magazine, christmas 2014 Critics Choice --Gramophone, Dec'14 I was determined never to hear another Elgar oratorio... then along came this Chandos box Over-adulated by the English, under-sung elsewhere, Elgar's two concertos, for violin and cello, speak easily for themselves, but the two symphonies fail to sustain any level of consistency and the oratorios, to my mind, resemble a hot-air balloon, at once ascendant and overblown. I was determined never to hear another. And then along came this Chandos box with a seductive account of Sea Pictures by Sarah Connolly that came close to displacing the flawless Janet Baker recording. Before I was aware the songs were over, The Dream of Gerontius had begin. Of all the oratorios, Gerontius bores me the most. Elgar, a disenchanted Roman Catholic, used words by an Anglican theologian who converted to Rome, without allowing any expression of duality and ambivalence within the texture of the score. Here, in Andrew Davis's interpretation, I hear those tensions for the first time. In this reading, Gerontius is not so much a work of faith as of a yearning for faith, a work not of certainty but of doubt. The beauty lies in the quest. Elgar, for once, sounds entirely his English self, freed of Franco-German musical dominance. Davis, with soloists Connolly, Stuart Skelton and David Soar, builds tension in coloured layers, like a country sunset. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform with subtlety and compassion. The Chandos sound is exemplary and the sense of awe never far from mind. The Elgar sceptic was converted. ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2014 --Sinfini Music, 29/12/14 I was determined never to hear another Elgar oratorio... then along came this Chandos box Over-adulated by the English, under-sung elsewhere, Elgar's two concertos, for violin and cello, speak easily for themselves, but the two symphonies fail to sustain any level of consistency and the oratorios, to my mind, resemble a hot-air balloon, at once ascendant and overblown. I was determined never to hear another. And then along came this Chandos box with a seductive account of Sea Pictures by Sarah Connolly that came close to displacing the flawless Janet Baker recording. Before I was aware the songs were over, The Dream of Gerontius had begin. Of all the oratorios, Gerontius bores me the most. Elgar, a disenchanted Roman Catholic, used words by an Anglican theologian who converted to Rome, without allowing any expression of duality and ambivalence within the texture of the score. Here, in Andrew Davis's interpretation, I hear those tensions for the first time. In this reading, Gerontius is not so much a work of faith as of a yearning for faith, a work not of certainty but of doubt. The beauty lies in the quest. Elgar, for once, sounds entirely his English self, freed of Franco-German musical dominance. Davis, with soloists Connolly, Stuart Skelton and David Soar, builds tension in coloured layers, like a country sunset. The BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform with subtlety and compassion. The Chandos sound is exemplary and the sense of awe never far from mind. The Elgar sceptic was converted. ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2014 --ArtsDesk, 29/12/14

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